This disclosure relates in general to network file download and, more specifically, but not by way of limitation, to downloading files using a web browser over a wide area network.
Modern browsers such as INTERNET EXPLORER™ 6 (IE6) by MICROSOFT™ have been optimized to automatically detect the types of downloaded objects off the Internet, for the purposes of selecting the most appropriate application to execute the downloaded content. For example, file extensions for content objects are associated with an application such that download of any file with that extension will automatically activate the associated application to begin playback of the content object. Unfortunately, with auto-detection, end-users maybe subjected to the “Media Bar” autoplay feature within IE6 or some other application that plays the content as it is downloaded. For example, activation of the Media Bar initiates streaming playback and not a download with a “Save As” pop-up menu if the end-user has in the past selected the option to have IE6 auto-play similar items. For example, a left-click on a content object would bring up the Media Bar and begin playback of the content even though the end-user may wish to save the content object for playback at a later time.
When end-users running web browsers, such as IE6, request a multimedia object off a web server on the Internet, the browser has an intelligent monitor or process known as the URL Moniker that analyzes the beginning of the content to determine it's type. Once the browser has determined the content type, it will automatically try to play the content object in the browser's Media Bar or other associated application, if it's of a multimedia type such as a movie or a song that has been previously played with the Media Bar. Further, the autoplay feature does not give the user the ability to choose where the multimedia object is stored.
The media industries seem to be trending toward allowing end-users to ‘download’ the objects (i.e., music, movies, TV-shows, etc) rather than limiting them to streaming playback of the object while online. The end-user often discovers after clicking on a content object and playing it, that that the song they played can no longer be found on their local system for further playback. The end-user can get trapped in just watching or listening to the media objects without ever saving them to the own local hard drive by left-clicking on the content object.